The Fiftyfaces Podcast

David Miller is an Executive Director at Quilter Cheviot, where he manages over £1.1 bn pounds in client funds.  He has been in the investing business for over 40 years and and is the author of the 7 year old “Diary of a Fund Manager” weekly diary, which has a readership of over 15,000 across 57 countries.  Our conversation charts David's entry into finance and why it continues to be his passion and why he has returned to running money, after some spells managing people and teams. We start with how he accidentally fell into finance, after studying organic chemistry.  His investment beliefs have evolved over time, but he continues to be focused (perhaps deriving from his roots as a scientist) on empirical evidence, and does not believe that finance is a dark art, but is instead about engaging with the real world.  He speaks about his aversion to having too much "conviction" and certainty around market direction and asset classes. Given David's extensive experience in rendering advice, we compare working with individual clients to institutions, and how the attitude to risk, time horizon and capital preservation might be different. We move to talk about his writing - which he likens to "going to the mental gym" each week, and the sense of discipline and clarity that writing his thoughts down brings to him.This podcast is brought to you with the kind support of Pluscios Capital, a women-owned, WBENC certified investment management firm based in Evanston, IL. With over 60+ years of combined investment management experience, co-founders Constance Teska and Kelly Chesney are committed to the development of bespoke investment solutions on behalf of institutions and intermediaries. In addition to broadly diversified core and catalyst solutions, Pluscios provides hands on product development support and custom solutions with a focus on diversity-led and emerging managers.

Alexandra Noble is an independent strategic advisor to financial institutions and charities, and has a particular interest in mentoring the next generation of investment leaders.  Her portfolio career includes a consulting role for Pensions for Purpose, coaching and strategic advice to firms, a Chair role at Future-Fit Ltd and roles as a charity trustee and director.  Our conversation is a broad-ranging one which starts with Alexandra's entry, into finance and her time as a fund manager as well as a manager of people.  We discuss the traits that made her a leader, and what she learned from the industry as well as peers.  We move to her current portfolio career and the passion she has to mentor the next generation of leaders, and how the complexities of business and the world today necessitate a different style of coaching.This podcast is brought to you with the kind support of Pluscios Capital, a women-owned, WBENC certified investment management firm based in Evanston, IL. With over 60+ years of combined investment management experience, co-founders Constance Teska and Kelly Chesney are committed to the development of bespoke investment solutions on behalf of institutions and intermediaries. In addition to broadly diversified core and catalyst solutions, Pluscios provides hands on product development support and custom solutions with a focus on diversity-led and emerging managers.

Tim Hodgson is co-head of the Thinking Ahead Institute at Willis Towers Watson.  He previously worked as an investment consultant. Our wide ranging conversation covers the genesis of the Thinking Ahead institute and what prompted the desire to gather industry thought leaders together to work on the most pressing issues facing not only the industry but the planet.Tim's own career has had many twists and turns and we spend some time on how he learned to think in exponential terms instead of strictly linearly. We translate this thinking into what the outlook for the planet is and Tim is surprisingly sanguine about what progress we will make and the change that we will see in 5 years. This podcast discusses similar themes to those discussed in Episode 72 with Tim's colleague, Marisa Hall co-head of the Thinking Ahead institute. You can find the link to that here:https://open.spotify.com/episode/0ITfgkpUg8NOzDY6XrqEx5?si=0zLrNlEwSKOCybf-MA4R7wThis podcast is brought to you with the kind support of Pluscios Capital, a women-owned, WBENC certified investment management firm based in Evanston, IL. With over 60+ years of combined investment management experience, co-founders Constance Teska and Kelly Chesney are committed to the development of bespoke investment solutions on behalf of institutions and intermediaries. In addition to broadly diversified core and catalyst solutions, Pluscios provides hands on product development support and custom solutions with a focus on diversity-led and emerging managers.

Eoin Murray is Head of Investment at the international business of Federated Hermes.  He has had a long career in investment management, spending time as a hedge fund manager and a quantitative equity specialist.  He recently obtained a certificate in energy innovation and emerging technologies and is a passionate advocate for sustainable investing, greater awareness of climate change and in driving change in the investment industry towards these goals.  He also has a diploma in specialist rescue which includes Swift Water Rescue, Powered Boat Rescue, Water Incident Management, & Rope Rescue via Outreach Rescue.  It is these unusual intersections that we discuss in this podcast, which is also included in the Fiftyfaces Focus Intersections Series. Our conversations starts with Eoin's proud Glaswegian routes, and how he stumbled into a career in investing and finance almost by accident.  We learn about his passion for quantitative methods and what prompted him to start his own firm in 2008 - which he admits did not have the best timing.  We cycle through his investment interests to his current focus on sustainable investing, pushing for greater awareness of climate change and the integration of climate change resilience into portfolios, as well as the drive for positive impact.  We then turn to a fascinating parallel interest of Eoin's which is specialist rescue, and discuss how this interest originated and what lessons it has taught him for life as well as his career. He recounts some of the highs and lows of this emotionally charged pursuit, the long hours of training and skill maintenance and why he feels so passionately about it.  I hope you enjoy this refreshing conversation with a professional committed to lifelong learning and pushing boundaries. 

Susan Soh, is Head of Capital Formation and Business Development at GrowthCurve Capital, a private equity firm focused on building world-class businesses by leveraging data, analytics, and machine learning, combined with a comprehensive approach to human capital, to accelerate growth and drive value creation.  At the time of the podcast recording she was Chief of Strategy and Capital Development for the private investment activities at Two Sigma, a $60B financial sciences firm with businesses in investment management, insurance, private equity and venture capital.  She was previously a founding partner and Global Head of Marketing and Client Services at Perella Weinberg Partners and prior to that held a series of roles in business development at a series of hedge funds and private equity firms. She originally trained as a lawyer and M&A banker. She is a Board Member of AAAIM since 2014 – Association of Asian American Investment Managers.Our conversation traces Susan's childhood and the expectations of her Chinese American family, as well as her cycle through her expected career, and then an unexpected one.  This naturally led us to discuss what Susan describes as "AQ" - adaptive intelligence, and how being able to pivot and adapt to life's surprises is so key.  We return to the topic of diversity time and time again - in particular the unique position of Asian Americans and why setting the standard is so important for role models of all kinds. This podcast is brought to you with the kind support of Pluscios Capital, a women-owned, WBENC certified investment management firm based in Evanston, IL. With over 60+ years of combined investment management experience, co-founders Constance Teska and Kelly Chesney are committed to the development of bespoke investment solutions on behalf of institutions and intermediaries. In addition to broadly diversified core and catalyst solutions, Pluscios provides hands on product development support and custom solutions with a focus on diversity-led and emerging managers.

Andrien Meyers is a Councilman in the City of London Corporation as well as a Head of Pensions Investments at the London Borough of Sutton and Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames.  He is a Non Executive Director of Resonance Limited as well as a strategic business advisor to bfinance. Our conversation starts with his upbringing in India, and moves through his move to the UK, his early career in accounting and how he was attracted in to the investment area.  We talk about what it means to be a steward of capital in the public fund area. We talk through his investment beliefs, such as what responsible investing means to him, his conviction in asset management and the importance of accurate measurement and reporting. Passionate about financial literacy, Andrien describes the after school program that he has helped create that focuses on "fusion skills" such as Resume Writing, Interview skills and Presentation Skils. We move then to speak about his work on the Anti-Racism Taskforce for the City of London, of which Andrien is a member and discuss how delicate and sometimes nuanced actions take have to be, especially in a place as laced with history and tradition as the City of London.  This podcast is brought to you with the kind support of Pluscios Capital, a women-owned, WBENC certified investment management firm based in Evanston, IL. With over 60+ years of combined investment management experience, co-founders Constance Teska and Kelly Chesney are committed to the development of bespoke investment solutions on behalf of institutions and intermediaries. In addition to broadly diversified core and catalyst solutions, Pluscios provides hands on product development support and custom solutions with a focus on diversity-led and emerging managers.

Pippa Gawley invests in what she describes as deep science hard tech innovations to accelerate the zero carbon transition.  She is the founder and director of Zero Carbon Capital, a fund she founded in April 2019, and holds various non-executive director and mentor roles. She has extensive experience in tech, and, latterly, in climate-tech in particular. Our conversation traces her roots and her coming of age as an angel investor.  We learn then what ultimately led her to climate tech, and to the potential that she believes that this area holds.  We speak in particular about innovation in three areas: food and agriculture, carbon capture and the hydrogen economy.We move to her experience as an angel investor and what she looks for in a founder or an idea or concept to back.  She recounts her own experience in raising capital for her current fund and how being a female founder factored in, as well as how she had to embark on a process of education around the whole concept of climate tech. We speak about the industry at large, and how in the UK 81% of all VC deals have all male teams on the company side, and what needs to be done to slowly redress this balance.There is more information about Pippa's approach and zero carbon capital here: https://www.zerocarbon.capital/This podcast is brought to you  with the kind support of Pluscios Capital, a women-owned, WBENC certified investment management firm based in Evanston, IL. With over 60+ years of combined investment management experience, co-founders Constance Teska and Kelly Chesney are committed the development of bespoke investment solutions on behalf of institutions and intermediaries. In addition to broadly diversified core and catalyst solutions, Pluscios provides hands on product development support and custom solutions with a focus on diversity-led and emerging managers.

Bob Snigaroff, who is President and CIO at Denali Advisors, based in San Diego.  The firm is named after Mount Denali, the highest peak in the USA located in Bob’s native Alaska (and the name for the mountain means "High One or Great One").  The firm is classified as a minority run firm due to Bob’s native American heritage and we discuss his upbringing in a fishing village in Kenai Alaska and how this influenced him in both striking out from the area and remembering his roots.Bob has a PhD in economic sociology and a host of other interests alongside his passion for value-based asset management, and we trace the evolution of his investment style as well as the trials and tribulations of starting a new firm and what the fundraising process has been like. We also speak about the underrepresentation of native Americans in US public life as well as in the finance industry and the fact that they remain one of the poorest demographic groups in the US, attracting little coverage, even during the current focus on diversity and inclusion. We end with a tour through his inspiration from classical literature and the rooting in simple values that we sometimes lose sight of.  I have always loved Bob's meditative calm and the manner in which he stands apart from the typical pace of asset management and finance.  I hope that you enjoy these 20 minutes of his journey. This podcast is brought to you  with the kind support of Pluscios Capital, a women-owned, WBENC certified investment management firm based in Evanston, IL. With over 60+ years of combined investment management experience, co-founders Constance Teska and Kelly Chesney are committed the development of bespoke investment solutions on behalf of institutions and intermediaries. In addition to broadly diversified core and catalyst solutions, Pluscios provides hands on product development support and custom solutions with a focus on diversity-led and emerging managers.

In the final series of the main Fiftyfaces Podcast for 2021, we have a number of treats in store - from members of underrepresented groups that we often don't hear as much about - such as the Native American and the Asian American population - from Bob Snigaroff who moved from a fishing village in Alaska to Wall Street - but via one of Alaska's biggest allocators, and from Susan Soh, whose American-Chinese upbringing often made it seem that everything was planned out - but for whom Adaptive Intelligence (or AQ) has been key. We hear from a number of women making strides and enjoying success in the areas of Climate Tech, where Pippa Gawley shares her vision that this area is the only way to ensure we meet our climate goals, and Margaux O'Brien who has brought her love of asset allocation from South Africa to the University of California with many global stops in between.  Elina Kovaleva muses why more women don't see what a wonderful, flexible, career hedge funds can provide and Alexandra Noble reflects on a long, storied career and why she is now focused on giving back and mentoring the next generation of leaders. Moving to London, Andrien Meyers is a true renaissance man, blending a role as an elected official with one in finance, and a broad commitment to social justice in which he is involved in the City of London tackling racism taskforce, while Tim Hodgson, co-leader of the Thinking Ahead Institute takes on a journey of thinking ahead which ends on a surprisingly optimistic note.We also include the voices of wisdom of long-term practitioners in the areas of investment management and private wealth, hearing from Pat Lynch, former leader of Chicago Equity Partners and David Miller, whose weekly diary now reaches over 15,000 readers in 57 countries. Series 5 is brought to you with the kind support of Pluscios Capital, a women-owned, WBENC certified investment management firm based in Evanston, IL. With over 60+ years of combined investment management experience, co-founders Constance Teska and Kelly Chesney are committed the development of bespoke investment solutions on behalf of institutions and intermediaries. In addition to broadly diversified core and catalyst solutions, Pluscios provides hands on product development support and custom solutions with a focus on diversity-led and emerging managers.

Susan Martin is MD of Greenstone Consulting, a change and and transition management firm.  After a long career in the public sector, culminating in a CEO role at a financial services business, she now holds a number of director roles and works as an executive coach. Our conversation tracks Susan's childhood and early career, and how she became used to frequent change and adaptation.  This led to her becoming a committed change advocate and consultant.   We talk about the challenges of change - the need to sometimes pause to allow change to settle, and how to mobilize an employee body behind a change initiative without fear. As a generalist who has worked in a range of industries we talk about the tension between generalists and specialists and the role that interpretation and intuition play in this case.  We turn then to what makes a valuable director or chair of a Board, and how diversity contributes to the richness of this discussion. Series 4 is brought to you with the kind support of Federated Hermes, Inc., a leading global investment manager. Guided by their conviction that responsible investing is the best way to create wealth over the long term, their investment solutions span equity, fixed-income, alternative/private markets, multi-asset and liquidity strategies and a range of separately managed accounts, distributed through intermediaries worldwide.